Round Two
by only-some-loser
Summary: Once again, Mac and Jack found themselves fleeing the security guards, and running for the pool. (tag to 2x08, Packing Peanuts Fire)


**AN: This is the twenty-ninth installment of my personal challenge to write a tag for every episode. This is a tag to 2x08, Packing Peanuts + Fire. It takes place right where the episode ends. It's a bit short, but I still like it well enough. I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review!**

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Of _course_ Jack had to touch the wall, the _art_. That was just their luck. The alarms were blaring, and Mac and Jack were once again running for their lives, towards the window they had jumped out of only a few days ago. Mac could hear Riley and Cage groaning while simultaneously laughing at them on the other end of the line.

Mac couldn't help but smile as he and Jack ran through the halls. As annoying as it was, it was just so _Jack_. He shouldn't have been surprised. The two burst through the door they had last escaped through, and Mac quickly got the window open.

"Ready to jump?" he asked Jack with a smile. He didn't wait for the man's response as he launched himself out the window and into the pool. Mac hit the water with a loud splash, immediately becoming drenched as he fell to the bottom. Unlike last time, the cover was partially over the pool. This proved to be a massive hindrance when Jack quickly followed Mac into the water, the force of his body hitting the pool shoving Mac under the cover.

Mac quickly rose to the surface of the pool, but the cover was on too tightly for him to push it up for air. Even if the chlorine hadn't been stinging his eyes, it would've been too dark to see which way led to open air. He kicked out with his feet, hitting the side of the pool. It was getting hard to breathe. He needed to get out, and fast. Blindly choosing to go right, Mac quickly felt along the edge of the pool, hoping to find the edge of the cover and the surface of the water. His lungs burned for air, and he was starting to get a little scared. Where was Jack? Shouldn't he have noticed that he hadn't surfaced yet? What if he drowned? These thoughts kept swirling around in his head as he frantically pulled himself along the edge of the pool, unable to find any give in the cover, or the edge of it. Finally, his lungs gave out just as Mac felt a strong hand grip his arm. He began thrashing as he breathed in water, but he felt himself being pulled away. Suddenly his head was above water, and he was soon being dragged out of the pool, and onto the concrete ground.

Mac felt someone turning him on his side as he coughed and sputtered out water, his lungs burning from it just as much as when he had still been under the pool cover. Blackness started to creep around the edges of his vision. He tried to push it away, tried to focus on something, anything, other than the blackness and pain. That's when he saw Jack standing above him, terrified.

"You okay?" he muttered, his throat raw.

Jack laughed, saying, "yeah, bud, yeah I'm just peachy. You're the one who scared me half to death and almost drowned. Once I noticed you hadn't come up, I had to dive back in and save your scrawny ass. You're lucky I'm such a strong swimmer." Jack looked much more relaxed now, although there was still a little bit of fear in his eyes. Mac supposed that was probably only natural, since the man had seen him thrashing violently as he drowned. He never wanted to go swimming again, Cage was totally right.

"Thanks for that, by the way," he said, trying to keep the mood light to cover up the fact that he could've died. "Now come on, we gotta get going before security gets out here. We're lucky they're not here yet." Mac quickly got to his hands and knees, then shakily rose to his feet. Jack just as quickly threw one of Mac's arms around his shoulder, and put his own arm around Mac's waist. Mac didn't say anything, but he was grateful. Almost drowning tended to take a lot out of a person.

The two made their way back to the van as quickly as possible, and successfully - albeit narrowly - avoided security. Jack pulled the van door open and helped Mac to get inside. The blond quickly fell to back of the van, sliding down the side until he was sitting on the carpet. Jack sat down next to him and made eye contact, his dark brown eyes searching Mac's blue ones to make sure that the kid really was okay. Mac offered him a small smile and a nod, hoping to quell the man's nerves.

"Can you drop us off at the second closest gas station? We don't wanna go to the same one and confuse those people all over again," Jack said to Cage, who was driving the fan. The two women laughed at them, but said of course.

This gas station bathroom was certainly nicer than the last one. These hand dryers were the heavy duty ones that moved your skin around too. Mac had to admit the force of the warm air on his shivering body felt pretty good. He and Jack laughed once again. Only they could do this twice in one week.


End file.
